When he opened his eyes, it took Chris a few seconds to realize where they were. One look around the room and a remark of the terrible décor later, he remembered that they had stayed at a quaint little bed-and-breakfast in some town that he'd never heard of. It was a pretty place, though, despite the awful dark reddish brown curtains that covered the windows- whose paint was cracked and peeling from years of use and not so much maintenance- and the disgustingly orange carpeted floors.
“Morning, love,” a voice grumbled from beside him. Chris turned on his side and propped himself up with his elbow.
“Hey... and are you sure it's still morning? I feel like I slept for days,” Chris quietly laughed.
“You were asleep for quite a while,” Jonny laughed back, “but I'm almost positive that it's morning.”
“Well, if you say so, then it must be true.” Chris smiled lovingly, and they both just laid there silently for a few minutes. Chris sighed a contented breath of air and said, “It's nice to be able to be with you like this.”
“I agree. I wish we could do this more often.”
“Me too.” Chris lifted himself up and hopped out of the bed. He ran around to Jonny's side and held out his hand. “Now, come on. We have to make the most of this day while we can.”
They walked down the narrow trail through the woods, leading them to a small river nearby. Everything was quiet and peaceful, apart from the chirping sounds of nature surrounding them. It was a gorgeously sunny day, and even though the trees blocked the rays for the most part, the trail was still bright and warm.
“So, I was thinking that once we go back, maybe we could get the other two down to the studio to work on some new stuff,” Chris mentioned as he watched the ground pass by under his feet. “Today's going to give me some wonderful inspiration.”
“We can do that, yeah,” Jonny agreed. “Although, I would love to not go back... at least, I wish we could go back like this,” Jonny lifted his hand, the fingers of which were interlaced with Chris's, “and not have to hide.”
“One day, Jonny, my love, one day.”
“One day,” Jonny hopefully repeated. “For now, I guess it's good enough that we can spend time together here. And it's beautiful out today.”
“It is. Perfect day for a swim.” Chris grinned widely at Jonny, raising his eyebrows a few times. Jonny laughed and shook his head. “Jonny, stop being so self-conscious! It's not like I'm asking you to skinny dip with me. Hell, I'm not even asking you to wear a speedo.” Chris looked up at the sky, thinking for a moment, then started to pull at the collar of his shirt. “Damn, that would be hot!”
“I know you're not,” Jonny laughed, “but... I don't know. I'm just not that big on water.”
“Fine. You can sit on the ground, but I'm gonna swim, 'cause I really need to cool down now.”
Jonny found a nice shady spot to sit, right up against a tree and facing the river. But when he sat down, he found that Chris was nowhere in sight. He wasn't worried all that much, though, because Chris was known to disappear for short periods of time, then magically reappear in the most random of places. At best guess, Jonny figured that Chris would just pop out of the middle of the river within a minute or so. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Jonny saw what looked like Chris's shoe. Sure enough, what he saw, sitting cross-legged right beside him, was Chris.
“I thought you were gonna swim,” Jonny said. Chris looked up at him, slowly and mischievously shaking his head.
“No, no. I thought about it... and maybe the only way to cool down is to get,” Chris leaned forward and breathed into Jonny's ear, “hotter.”
Jonny swallowed and nervously glanced around. “Here? You aren't serious, are you?”
“Nope!” Chris exclaimed, and within seconds he had peeled off his shirt. He threw it down next to Jonny and ran for the water. Jonny laughed as he watched the other man jump into the river without even slowing down. Chris resurfaced almost immediately, his long curls now wet and sticking to his forehead and the back of his neck. As Jonny stared, the urge to join Chris grew stronger and stronger, until Jonny found himself removing his own shirt and walking to the water.
Chris was busy trying to see how long he could hold his breath underwater, so he didn't notice Jonny slowly (because the water was pretty cold compared to the air) emerging himself into the river. After seventeen seconds, he lifted his head up and gasped for air, then turned around and squealed with delight.
“Jonny!” Chris quickly swam over to Jonny, and Jonny thought that maybe Chris was part jet-ski or something, because it only took him a fraction of a second to make it over. “You decided to come in? Yay!”
“Yeah,” Jonny replied, his tone defeated but glad. “I realized that I didn't want to sit over there all by myself and just watch you, especially since I don't know when I'll get to do this again.” Jonny reached underwater, placing his hand on Chris's back and pulling Chris forward. They locked their lips together as Chris slipped his arms around Jonny's neck.
“Jonny, Jonny,” Chris contentedly sighed when they pulled apart. “I don't think the world has ever seen such a perfect Sunday morning as this.”
“Mm, definitely not.” Chris and Jonny stared at each other for ages, then after a while, Chris let his arms fall down to his side. They didn't stay that way for very long, though, and within a few seconds a giant glob of water was being splashed into Jonny's face. “Hey!” Jonny yelled, then splashed Chris back. Chris gave a girlish scream, and splashed Jonny even more. They continued back and forth for several minutes, until Chris stopped because he was laughing too much.
“Jonny boy,” he said, gently wiping away the water dripping down Jonny's face, even though his hands were also dripping with water, “I love you very dearly.”
Jonny grabbed one of Chris's hands before he could take it back, and placed a small kiss on his palm. “I love you, too.”
MONDAY MORNING
Chris sat against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. He knew that in the long run, spending the night out of town with Jonny was not a good idea. They'd had a tremendous time, no doubt, but as a result of having to part ways and come home to his empty apartment, Chris didn't even get so much as a wink of sleep. He just sat in his bed, all scrunched up, staring at the blank surface and wishing that Jonny was still with him. The sun began to rise, as he knew it would, striking through the curtains and illuminating his solitude.
Now it was time to wake up, so to speak, and begin his day with the looming prospect of being able to see Jonny later during the time they would spend in the studio working on new material. They, Guy, and Will had intended to meet the day before, but several things came up that resulted in the postponement, the least of which being that in their reluctance to return to their normal lives, Chris and Jonny took forever to return home.
Empty pop-tart boxes littered the floor around the kitchen's trash can, but there were still a few boxes left in the cabinet just above the sink. They were, for the most part, the only things of nutritional value in that kitchen, save for the lonely, half-empty jug of apple juice resting on the top shelf of the fridge. Chris pulled out one of the shinily-wrapped packages and tore it open, almost throwing bits of crust around the room. Luckily, he'd had quite a lot of experience opening pop-tarts, so the room breathed a sigh of relief knowing that it would be no dirtier than it already was.
The brighter view of the sun through the open living room window provided Chris with the idea that he should walk to the Beehive rather than drive, even though it was definitely a longer walk than it was to the Bakery, and would potentially be very stressfully tiring after a long night of not sleeping. Nevertheless, Chris was determined to make his journey on foot, so he quickly dressed into what he felt was appropriate attire, then set out the door, uneaten pop-tarts still in hand.
“Aw, you didn't bring me any?”
Guy pointedly raised his hand and gestured at Chris's pop-tarts. Chris looked down, then took a bite from one of them.
“Nope,” he replied with a full mouth, giving Guy a nice view of the delicious pastry he was missing out on. In response, Guy flung one of his hands up to cover his eyes.
“Ew, man, that's nasty! Close your mouth once in a while.”
“Hey, I could say the same thing to you.” Chris laughed to himself as he walked around Guy, who was shooting him unamused stares.
“Oh, the married couple is arguing again, I see,” came the sudden voice of Will. He and Jonny had silently entered the room at some point, and were now standing in front of Guy and Chris.
“Like anyone would want to marry him,” Guy muttered. “I bet he's not even good in bed.”
Chris looked up at this blow to his self-esteem, but his eyes immediately caught Jonny's, and they shared a smirk that neither Guy or Will noticed, as they were usually oblivious to what was really going on around them.
“Well, I'm sure that's something you think about too often,” Will said, placing a hand on Guy's shoulder. Guy cringed at the touch, but said nothing. “Let's get started, yeah?”
Will was in the other room taking a call on his cellphone, a task which apparently required the assistance of Guy. Jonny took the opportunity to sit next to Chris at the piano, swinging his guitar around to his side and being careful not to smash it into the piano's frame.
“You didn't get any sleep, did you?” he knowingly asked, lightly tapping his finger on the side of Chris's stomach.
“No,” Chris answered, disappointed, but then raised the corners of his mouth into a smile. “I couldn't stop thinking about you in a speedo.”
“Oh, God,” Jonny said as his cheeks turned bright red, and Chris laughed loudly and heartily.
“I don't see why you're embarrassed about these things around me, Jonny. It's not as though I haven't already s-”
“Shh!” Jonny hissed. “Jesus, Chris, what if they suddenly come back into the room?”
“Well, then I guess we'd be done hiding, wouldn't we?” Jonny narrowed his eyes dozily at Chris, who snarkily crinkled his nose in return. Jonny broke down into a giggle at that point, one that was only intensified once Chris joined in with his adorable chipmunk-like demeanor. Then, right on cue, Guy and Will reentered the room, shouting about something that neither Jonny or Chris knew or wanted to know about. The strange contrast of the room- shouting and giggling- went unnoticed by the party of men inside, and ceased altogether once they were facing each other.
“Are we ready to do this or what?” Guy tiredly asked. “Chris, do you think you can start hitting the right notes from now on?”
Any remaining trace of happiness immediately flushed out of Chris's face. He frowned, bowed his head, and mumbled an overly self-critical apology. Jonny, like always, kept his mouth shut, but he had to really force back the strong urge to leap up and shout as many nasty things as he could think of in Guy's face. Instead, he patted Chris's back in the most friendly way he thought possible, though he did make sure that at the next available opportunity, he winked and smiled at Chris with all the love in the world. When Chris smiled back at him, he decided that there truly was nothing- no feeling or material item or even image of Chris in nothing but elaborately tight swimwear- better than that.
TUESDAY MORNING
When the phone rang, rather than being annoyed as hell, Chris jumped out of bed and ran for the cordless. He knew there could only be one person who would call him that early in the morning, even though for him it was far from early. One look at the caller ID told him that he was right, and so he frantically hit the button to switch it on.
“Hi, Jonny!” Chris practically shouted into the phone.
“Hey, Chris,” Jonny replied in a much calmer tone. “How are you?”
“Awfully bored. There's nothing to do around here... except wait for you to call. What's up?” Chris sat down in the nearest chair he could find, and semi-consciously crossed his legs. He started tapping, also semi-consciously, on the table beside him.
“I was just wondering if you were busy, or if you'd like to join me for breakfast.”
“Jonny, really, am I ever busy? Well... I am never too busy for you, anyway. I would love to join you.”
“OK, great! So, uh, meet me... you know.”
“Yeah, definitely. Bye, love!”
The sound of Jonny's laughter blew through the speaker as he said, “Bye.”
Chris and Jonny greeted each other with a warm- seemingly friendly to the outsider- embrace as they almost always did. After a few minutes of idle chit-chat, talking about the weather and how nice it was that the rain had stopped, they walked into the restaurant and waited to be seated.
The waitress was friendly enough, and she quickly took down their orders and went off to serve some other group. For a few minutes, Chris and Jonny just stared at each other, taking in the moment. The restaurant was a little crowded, but neither notice anything or anyone except for the other.
“So, anything new with you, then?” Chris started. Jonny tossed his head back and forth as if to say that nothing much had happened.
“I missed you,” he said, “but that's not new. But it did happen.”
“I missed you, too,” Chris beamed. “I swear to God last night was awful. Especially since I fell asleep with the TV on, and then when I woke up there was this commercial on. Guess what it was a commercial for?” he asked, slowly and pointedly, raising his arms in an over-dramatic gesture.
“Um...” Jonny paused, sincerely stumped by Chris's demand. “I don't know, what?”
Chris leaned forward and held up one finger as he said, “Never once in my life did I hear of that bed-and-breakfast until last weekend. Now it's just following me.” Jonny laughed at Chris, who in turn began to laugh.
“It could have been worse. At least it wasn't a Hannah Montana commercial,” Jonny pointed out.
“Oh, God.” Chris's eyes widened, and he was actually being quite serious. “Or even worse, it could have been the actual show.”
They both cringed at the thought, then a silence fell over the table. It wasn't exactly awkward, but neither of them knew what to do with it, so it lasted for quite a while. It was only broken once laughter burst out again, after Chris had decided he was going to try to play footsies with Jonny, and Jonny looked up at him blankly, then they both just cracked up.
Jonny set down his newly cleaned fork, swallowed, glanced at Chris, then asked, “Is something wrong?”
Chris, absentmindedly running his finger around the rim of his cup, shook his head and answered, “No... I was just thinking...”
“And?” Chris removed his hand from the cup, setting it and his other one neatly on the table in front of him.
“Jay, would it be all right for us to tell Guy and Will? I mean, I guess they deserve to know... It's just that I'm tired of being around you and having to suppress... Well, it's kinda like we may as well have never gotten together in the first place.”
“I know what you mean.” Jonny frowned down at his plate, but it was a short-lived frown; an idea seemed to burst from the toast and forced him to spring his head up. “Chris, move in with me.”
It was more of a demand than a proposal, but that didn't matter, because Chris was fine with that; he only needed a moment to register the words and check that they were real. “OK!” he beamed.
“All right. And then we can tell them when we meet up tomorrow. First we say we're moving in together, then if they ask why- I assume they'll ask why- ...we... tell them why.” Jonny's eyes filled with an honest glow, illuminating his deepest emotions. “Because I love you.”
“This is gonna be perfect,” Chris wondrously breathed after a long moment of looking on the verge of tears. “Jonny, we can be together. It's the only thing I've ever wanted since I met you.”
Jonny smiled widely and reached across the table to grab Chris's hand. “One thing, though... What do we do if, you know... they don't react so well?”
“You mean like if they decide they don't want to see us anymore?”
“Something like that.” Chris thought for a moment, then placed his free hand on top of Jonny's, creating some sort of Chris-and-Jonny-hand sandwich.
“Well... then, we'll still be together, right? Isn't that at least a little bit more important than them?”
“Yeah,” Jonny immediately replied, causing Chris to smile, which was only intensified when Jonny continued, “Actually- no offense to Guy or Will, but it's a lot more important.”
“Good. So... should I stay with you tonight, then?”
“Yes. If you want, of course.”
“That's cute,” Chris said with a small laugh. Jonny lowered his eyebrows questioningly in return.
“What's cute?”
“Acting like you think there's even a slight possibility that I wouldn't want to spend the night with you.”
WEDNESDAY MORNING
Chris was gaping at the sight before him; it was an absolute miracle that he could open his eyes after hours of unconsciousness and see Jonny laying so close. He could probably count every single bit of stubble on Jonny's beautiful face if he really wanted to, and he almost considered doing it. He decided against it when he realized that he would probably either lose track or get bored halfway through. But he did spend another hour or so staring before Jonny even so much as stirred. When Jonny did finally wake up, he looked at Chris and smiled.
“Good morning,” he quietly said. Chris returned the smile and leaned in.
“Good morning.” He lifted his hand and gently stroked Jonny's cheek. “Jonny, isn't it amazing? We get to do this every morning from now on.”
“Yeah. And I get to do this every morning-” Jonny brushed his lips against Chris's, lightly yet forcefully, which he knew would drive Chris crazy.
“Oh, if you get to do that,” Chris began, slowly sliding his hand down Jonny's side, “then I get to do this.” Chris leaned over and starting kissing Jonny's neck at precisely the same moment that his hand wandered past the waistband of Jonny's pants. Jonny let out a deep gasp, reached over Chris's shoulder, and buried his hand in Chris's mop of hair.
“Chris, if this is what it's gonna be like, then we better not ever make any plans for morning-time or we're always gonna be late.” Chris laughed, and kept his hand busy as he moved his mouth more towards Jonny's.
“We actually do have plans this morning, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, we're supposed to-” Jonny had to pause so the moan inside of him could make its way out, “-be meeting Guy and Will, huh?”
“Mm-hmm. I think they can wait, though.”
“Yeah,” Jonny agreed with a shaky voice. “They can wait.”
Guy looked up from his bass at the spot where the noise of the door opening had originated. Chris quickly entered through the doorway, immediately followed by Jonny.
“Oh, look who finally decided to show!” Guy sarcastically exclaimed. Chris rolled his eyes as Guy continued, “Why do you look so... embarrassed, Jonny?”
“Huh, do I look embarrassed?” Jonny fretfully replied. He self-consciously patted down some of the hair at the back of his head, which he then realized was an incredibly silly thing to do.
“Where's Will?” Chris interrupted, rubbing his hands together. “We've got news.”
“Did you write another song again?” Guy laughed. “He should be back in, like, two seconds. He just went to the bathroom or something.”
“Who went to the bathroom?” Will was suddenly among the men, standing as though he'd been there the whole time. “Oh, right. Me.”
“What's your news, then?” Guy asked Chris. Chris turned to Jonny, who smiled and nodded in approval, then faced Guy and Will once more.
“Jonny and I are moving in together.” He held out his hands, as if to say that the information was out now, and they were free to do with it whatever they wanted. But at first, none of them wanted to do anything with it, so Chris pressed on. “Well?”
“Well...” Will began, pausing to think for another moment. “Why, exactly?”
“Jonny, would you like to...” Chris trailed off.
Jonny took a deep breath and a step forward. Then, wrapping his arm around Chris, he said, “We're moving in together, because... because we're in love. With each other.” Jonny cringed a little at his excessive explanation, but Guy and Will were still stuck on the end of the first sentence.
“OK,” Will finally said. Chris was a little surprised by his response.
“Really, you guys are OK with it?” Even though he hadn't originally answered, Guy nodded his head along with Will.
“Oh, wait.” Guy scrunched up his nose distastefully. “Ew, you guys didn't... you know. That's not why you look embarrassed, is it?”
“I-I don't think that that's really any of your business,” Jonny quickly stammered, completely flustered. Guy took this as an affirmative answer, though, and he increased the disgust in his look.
“Ew.”
Chris and Jonny shared the piano bench, playing music while they waited for Guy and Will to return from getting lunch. Jonny was focusing on playing a new riff for Chris, who was listening intently.
“Jonny, this is beautiful,” Chris said with mystified eyes. Jonny smiled a little, blushed, but kept his head down and his gaze on the guitar. Chris watched him for a few moments, then turned to the piano and started to play.
For another few minutes they continued to make their beautiful music, and once it was done, Chris and Jonny looked up at each other.
“Yay!” Chris squealed, which Jonny just laughed and smiled at. “Jonny, we are the perfect team.”
“Yeah, we don't even need Guy and Will,” Jonny jested. Chris giggled, wrapped his arms around Jonny's neck and kissed him on the cheek.
“I'm glad they don't hate us or anything.”
“Yeah, that could have gone terribly wrong. But this is great now, we don't have to hide.” Chris beamed and kissed Jonny square on the mouth. At that same moment, Guy and Will reentered the room.
“Oh, God,” Guy droned. He set down the bag he was holding and held up his hands. “Please don't tell me you guys are gonna be doing that all the time now.”
“Chill out, Guy, it's not like we-” Jonny began.
“No, you know what? Two can play this game!” The other three men in the room were a little confused by what he meant, but it became clearer once backed up to the door, opened it, then spun around and left. Jonny, Chris, and Will all looked at each other questioningly.
“I don't really see how that was 'playing this game',” Jonny said, and Chris nodded.
“Yeah, and,” he added, gesturing between Jonny and himself, “we're already two.”
THURSDAY MORNING
“Well, you're up early,” Chris said as he walked into the kitchen that he and Jonny now shared. He had woken up only a few minutes earlier to find the bed empty aside from his own body, which had confused him a little. He thought he had heard the sound of Jonny moving around somewhere in the apartment, though, and he soon found out that he was right.
“Yeah. I made breakfast,” Jonny gestured to the counter, where several pieces of toast and some eggs were resting on a plate for Chris. Chris moved towards it as Jonny sat down at the table.
“That was very thoughtful of you.” Chris sat down opposite Jonny and began to eat. After a few minutes of silence, except for the noise of Chris chewing, Chris stopped eating and looked up at Jonny. Jonny was staring across the room, a blank expression painted across his eyes. “What's wrong?”
“Huh? Oh...” Jonny began. He clasped his hands together on the table and watched them for a while. “It's just that thing yesterday, with Guy... I just don't want there to be any...” He paused, searching for the appropriate wording, and finally settled on, “negativity in the group, you know?”
“Yeah,” Chris nodded, “I know what you mean. But, listen-” Chris reached across the table and grabbed Jonny's hand, “I'm sure he'll come around soon enough. He has to, right? He's one of our best friends, he can't just bail like that and be gone forever.”
“I certainly hope so,” Jonny quietly replied. “I always expected something like this to happen, but now that it's happening... I'm still not prepared for it, you know?”
“Well, what is there to do, really?” Chris asked, then frowned. “Unless you want me to just stay at my place, and we can forget-”
“No.” The force with which Jonny said it stunned Chris for a few moments. He just stared wide-eyed at Jonny and waited for him to continue. “No, you're staying here. I'm not dealing with that again.”
“Dealing with what?”
“Dealing with not being able to...” Jonny began to blush, and he looked down at his hands again. “Not being able to... like... hold you and...” His voice was getting quieter by the second, his cheeks flushing a much deeper red. “I like being able to wake up next to you.”
Chris, completely touched by Jonny's words, slid his chair over to the other side of the table and rested his head on Jonny's shoulder. He wanted to say so much, but he was overwhelmed by the vastness of his emotions. Instead, he settled for an, “I love you, Jonny,” and then silence.
“You're not serious, are you?” Will asked. He was on the phone with Guy, who was being a huge brat over the whole Chris-Jonny situation.
“I am serious,” Guy bit back. “It's disgusting, and I don't see why I should be subjected to such horrors just because my friends-”
“Your friends love each other. Who cares? They're happy, you should be, too.”
“Yeah, I'll be happy for them, sure. But I don't want to have to sit there and watch them practically fornicate right in front of me.” Will was silent for a few moments, trying to pull himself together and not completely lash out at Guy.
“You are so lucky that we're on the phone right now, otherwise you'd be receiving a rather large slap from me,” he informed Guy. “Or maybe two.”
“Why?” Again, Will needed to calm himself before speaking.
“Why?? Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're way over-exaggerating and making a huge deal out of something that shouldn't matter to you.”
“I am not making a huge deal about it!” Guy exclaimed defensively.
“Guy, yes you are,” Will forcefully said. “Now, shut up, and tell me why the hell you have such a problem with them.”
“Well, excuuuuuse me! Fine, what if I said... ugh, what if I said that it's because I'm...” Guy finished his sentence, but he mumbled it unintelligibly.
“You're what?” Will asked.
“Jealous, OK?” Guy clarified.
“Jealous?” Will almost laughed, but he was mature enough to hold it back.
“Yes, jealous! Not like I want to be with Jonny or anything.” There was a small awkward pause, then Guy added, “Or Chris, for that matter. It's just... well, I always kinda hoped that if any of us were gonna hook up... it would involve me.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I mean, I don't really want to hook up with any of you, I just figured someone would want to hook up with me, and then maybe I would see what it was like, you know?”
“No, I don't know,” Will said. “Guy, you're so arrogant. And besides, it's not like Chris and Jonny are just hooking up. You have seen them, right? It's pretty obvious that this is a lasting thing.”
“Whatever,” Guy said, and from his tone Will could tell that he was probably rolling his eyes. “Listen, did you check on that thing?”
“Yes,” Will said, annoyed.
“And?”
“And it should be here soon. Calm down, Guy.”
“Hey,” Guy shouted, “I put half the money into this, I'm sorry if I want to make sure that it's not just gonna disappear.”
“You did not put in half,” Will yelled back, “you put in, like, a third. And besides, you wouldn't even know about it if it wasn't for me.”
“Right, Will,” Guy began, brimming with sarcasm, “because none of us would ever be able to do anything in life if it wasn't for your guidance. Thank you so much, sir.”
With that, Guy hung up, and Will had to stop himself from throwing the phone across the room.
FRIDAY MORNING
“Wait.” Chris stopped strumming, and looked alertly around.
“What?” he asked. Jonny held up his index finger, trying to listen to some sound that was completely inaudible to Chris. He tried, but after a few minutes he still didn't hear anything, and his patience was growing thin. “Jonny, what?”
“Hold on,” Jonny said. Chris waited, trying not to become angry. “You don't hear that?”
“No, I don't.” Chris lifted the guitar up to remove the strap around his shoulder, and set it down, leaning it against the wall. He walked over to Jonny and listened. “I don't hear anything,” he whispered.
“It sounds like...” Jonny stopped mid-sentence, then opened his mouth wide and shot his head over to Chris. “This is bad.”
“Bad? What's bad?” Chris started freaking out. He grabbed Jonny by the shoulders, lightly shook him, and nearly screamed, “Jonny, what's bad?!?!”
Jonny stared blankly for a few moments, then the corners of his open mouth turned up and he began to laugh. Chris panicked, as he thought this was a sign of Jonny's fall to insanity. Jonny noticed the frightened look on Chris's face, so he said, “It's OK, Chris, I'm just messing with you.”
Chris gasped incredulously, then furrowed his eyebrows and flared his nostrils. He blew angry air out of his nose for a few seconds, then softened a bit. “Jonny, you are so lucky that I love you.
“I know I am,” Jonny mischievously said, flashing a deviously charming smile. Chris tried his hardest to fight back the smile that was crawling its way onto his face, but it was a battle he couldn't win.
“You're too cute when you do that. Stop it!” Chris laughed, even though he was attempting seriousness. Much to Chris's dismay, Jonny kept the smile plastered on his face. “Fine, I'm just gonna close my eyes until you stop.”
Chris kept true to his word, and tightly shut his eyes. But every few seconds he peeked at Jonny, and every few seconds he saw that Jonny was still smiling. Finally, Chris couldn't take it any more, so for revenge, he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Jonny. He moved with too much force, though, and they both ended up falling to the ground.
“Ha ha, oops!”
Will walked into the small alleyway that led to the Bakery's entrance. For some reason they were meeting there today, rather than the Beehive. He wasn't really sure why, but he wasn't gonna complain about it.
As he drew closer, though, he noticed the figure of a petite man standing outside. He assumed it was Guy; who else would be standing there like that, all dark-haired and short?
“Guy, what are you doing?” he called out, and Guy looked up.
“I'm waiting, what does it look like?” he replied, a hint of snobbishness in his voice.
“Why are you waiting outside?”
“I wasn't checking the mail or anything, if that's what you were thinking,” Guy quickly said.
Will blinked a few times, amazed at himself for being surprised once again by Guy's behavior. “OK, well, it wasn't what I was thinking, but now that you mentioned it, I should tell you that YOU'RE CRAZY.”
“I beg your pardon? I am perfectly sane!” Guy exclaimed, resting his hand on his hip in a slight flamboyant way. “Excuse me for just wanting to make sure that it got here on time!”
“Guy, I checked the thing this morning. It will be here tomorrow.”
“Well...” Guy struggled to find a comeback, so silence sat between them for a few moments. Then Guy quickly threw open the door of the Bakery and ran inside.
Rehearsal was going amazingly well, until Chris hit the wrong note on the piano. The others didn't even notice it at first, but the sound of Chris slamming his hands down on the keys clued them in. Then came the sound of his head banging down, and it was at this point that Jonny walked over to him.
“Chris,” he quietly said, resting a hand gently on Chris's back. He left it there for a few moments as Chris breathed deeply, then once again said, “Chris.”
“Sorry,” Chris said, lifting his head up to look at Jonny. His eyes were tired and sad, and he was frowning. “I fucked it all up.”
“No, Chris, it's fine.”
As Jonny tried to calm Chris down, Guy stumbled over to Will.
“Drama queen!” Guy sang out of the side of his mouth. He kept his gaze on Jonny and Chris, but if he had dared to look back at Will he would have been bombarded with a series of nasty looks.
“This is coming from you?”
“Well, yeah, I'm the one who said it,” Guy smartly laughed. And while he was laughing, he received a hard smack upside the head from Will. “Hey!” he cried, rubbing at the injured spot.
“Oh, shut up. You deserved it,” Will said. Guy said nothing in return, and just looked back at Chris and Jonny.
They were still talking in hushed voices, or at least Chris was. Jonny was standing with his back to the others, so all Guy and Will could see was Chris. But they saw Jonny place his hand on Chris's shoulder, then moments later Chris smiled at whatever Jonny had said.
“Oh no,” Guy groaned as he watched Chris hug Jonny, the smile still brushed across his face.
“Oh my GOD,” Will moaned, “what is it this time, Guy?”
“It just that... it's happened,” Guy quietly said.
“What's happened?”
“I...” Guy gathered his courage and faced Will. He tried to speak as calmly and undefeated as he could, but it didn't work so well. Instead, he ended up crying, “I caught the Buckin fever!!” then buried his head in his hands.
SATURDAY MORNING
“This feels weird,” Chris uncomfortably said as he spun around to show off his outfit.
“Yeah, but you look great,” Jonny said, hypnotized by the amount of leg that the shorts Chris was wearing revealed. He was also wearing a plain white shirt that clung to his torso, a bright red headband wrapped around his forehead, bright red wristbands to match, and tennis shoes, with a nice racket held loosely in his left hand. Jonny was wearing something similar, except his shorts weren't nearly as revealing, and he opted not to wear the headband. Instead, he sported his usual green cap.
“I do?” Chris asked hopefully. Jonny nodded and walked over to where Chris was standing. He put one hand on Chris's shoulder and placed a satisfactory kiss on Chris's lips. “You look pretty hott, too,” Chris seductively said.
Jonny was just about to reply with a most likely pervy statement, but at that moment the phone rang. Chris rolled his eyes and ran over to answer the phone.
“Hello?” he said. “Oh, hey Guy. It's Guy,” he whispered to Jonny, who nodded in understanding. “What? Now?... But Jonny and I were gonna go play tennis... It is not gay!... No...Kinda... No, they're not that tight... Well, maybe I am wearing a headband! What does it matter to you- Shut up!... You know what? I shouldn't even go now just because you're being so mean... What is it?... Well, it can't wait until later? …Fine, we'll be right there.”
Chris hung up the phone with a sigh and pranced back over to Jonny.
“Change in plans?” Jonny asked.
“Guy wants us to go over to the Bakery,” Chris answered. “Apparently he and Will have something to show us.”
“It can't wait until later?”
“That's what I said! But I guess it can't wait.” Chris nodded in the direction of the door, and they began to leave.
“Can I tell you something, Chris?” Jonny asked as they walked out.
“What?”
“It is so hot that you're wearing that out in public.”
Twenty minutes later (it would have been only ten or so, had Jonny not made the remark about Chris's outfit, causing Chris to throw a fit about how ridiculous he looked, when in actuality he really did look stunning) Chris and Jonny arrived at the Bakery. Will and Guy had been waiting for them, certainly, but they were in no rush to greet them when they came in. They were huddled in a corner, gathered around some briefly invisible object.
“Can we get on with this?” Chris called as he and Jonny walked over to the other two. Will looked up first, then shifted a little to make room for the new arrivals. Chris and Jonny stood and looked at the object.
“What is it?” Jonny asked. Guy looked up at him and smiled.
“It's a... Magic Bullet!”
“A what?” Chris shrieked, utterly confused.
“Magic Bullet,” Guy slowly repeated. “Like, from the informercials.”
“Well... what the hell is it??”
“It's a blender-y thing,” Will answered. “And it is pretty sweet.”
Chris stared blankly at Will and Guy. “You two brought us over here for a blender?”
“It's not an ordinary blender,” Will said. “Look, show 'em what you made, Guy.”
Guy lifted a bowl filled with some sort of green goo. “Guacamole!”
Jonny looked at the bowl and its contents, frowned, then said, “It doesn't really look like Guacamole to me.”
“OK,” Guy admitted, “so it's a little runny. It's my first time using this thing, cut me some slack!”
“Oh hey,” Will began, throwing something in the blender and placing the lid on it. “Would you guys care for some,” he pressed down a button, holding it for three seconds flat, “cole slaw?” Chris shook his head fervently, and Will twisted his mouth at the blender. “Neither would I... oh... what a waste...”
While Will contemplated what he was going to do with the unwanted cole slaw, Guy began to prepare something else. Chris decided he'd had enough of their shenanigans, and so he grabbed Jonny's hand and began to walk away. “Hey, where are you guys going??” Guy asked.
“We're going to play tennis!” Chris yelled, not bothering to stop or look back. Then he quickly decided to get revenge for having to come all the way to the Bakery for this dumb visit. “Or, failing that, we're going home and having sex.”
Jonny had to stifle a smile at that, whereas Will refocused his attention on the Magic Bullet, and Guy, having heard more than he wanted to, was beginning to think his fever was starting to break.
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